The present invention relates in general to surgical devices, and, in particular to an arthroscopy portal maker, and a method for using same, for use in arthroscopic procedures. The present invention is constructed with a canulated shaft which has a cutting end and a gripping portion located near the end opposite the cutting end of the shaft. The shaft further comprises an internal channel which slidably cooperates over and around a puncturing tool, such as a conventional spinal needle, and then a blunt wire rod, among other things, which is slidably interchanged with the puncturing tool.
Arthrocopic surgery is a procedure which enables surgery to be performed within the confines of an anatomical joint, such as the knee joint or shoulder joint, without the necessity of making large incisions, or the need to widely expose the area where the surgery is to be performed. Prior to actually performing the surgical procedures within the joint itself, a portal must be made which facilitates insertion of additional arthroscopic tools. Typically, such portals are made by first positioning a spinal needle at the point where the portal is to be made and then forcing the spinal needle toward the joint so as to puncture the skin. The surgeon then continues forcing the spinal needle through the tissue below the skin until the tip of the spinal needle is located where further arthroscopic surgical procedures are to be performed.
After the spinal needle has been properly inserted, the surgeon then removes the needle from the joint, and replaces it with a canula/obturator or canula/trocar assembly. This canula/obturator or canula/trocar assembly is forced through the hole made by the spinal needle, under the theory that it will follow approximately the same path as that previously occupied by the spinal needle, until the end of the canula/obturator or canula/trocar assembly is substantially positoned within the joint area. Once inserted, the obturator or trocar is then slidably removed from the canula so as to enable additional surgical tools to be slidably inserted through the remaining canula so as to enable further surgical procedures to be performed.
While such methods of making portals have been successful, few if any of such prior art procedures, or the prior art devices used to perform such procedures, effectively facilitate locating a canula within the joint area through slidable guided cooperation with a puncturing tool, such as a spinal needle. As one of the primary objectives of arthroscopic surgery is to minimize the size, as well as the number, of cuts to the area where the surgery is being performed (for purposes of reducing trauma and accordingly the amount of time necessary for healing), it is highly desirous that a portal be made with minimal amount of damage to the tissue. Furthermore, few, if any prior art methods and devices utilize a canulated shaft which has a cutting end, for use in slidable cooperation with a puncturing tool, as well as a blunt wire rod which is slidably interchanged with the puncturing tool, during the procedure to make the portal, for the specific purpose of minimizing damage to tissue while making the portal, and accordingly, for ensuring that each surgical tool inserted through the portal is positioned at substantially the precise location as the previously used surgical tool.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an arthroscopy portal maker which reduces the risk of trauma to the patient, as well as the healing process, by eliminating the risk of excessive cutting to the tissue during the making of the portal, as well as after the portal has been made.
It is additionally an object of the present invention to provide an arthroscopy portal maker which facilitates the slidable interchangeability with additional surgical instruments, while at the same time ensuring that each instrument will be positioned in substantially the same location as that occupied by the previous instrument.
It is still further an object of the present invention to provide an arthroscopy portal maker which comprises a canulated shaft having a cutting end and a gripping end opposite the cutting end, for insertion of the cutting end into the joint area where further surgical procedures are to be performed.
These and other objects of the present invention shall become apparent from the following description of the drawings and claims that follow.